The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Paeonia plant, botanically known as Paeonia lactiflora×(Paeonia lutea×Paeonia suffruticosa) and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Smith Opus 1’.
The new Paeonia plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in West Newton, Mass. and Windham, N.H. The objective of the breeding program is to create new hardy Paeonia plants with unique and attractive flower coloration.
The new Paeonia plant originated from a cross-pollination in 1994 in West Newton, Mass. of Paeonia lactiflora ‘Martha W.’, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with Paeonia lutea×Paeonia suffruticosa ‘Golden Era’, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Paeonia plant was discovered in June, 2002 and selected in June, 2003 by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Windham, N.H.
Asexual reproduction of the new Paeonia plant by tissue culture in Chicoutimi, Canada, since October, 2003, has shown that the unique features of this new Paeonia plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.